Useful FMEA software package
Useful FMEA software package
(OP)
Hi,
I think this forum has many knowledgable members, compared to many...
We need some software to manage & document our FMEAs (Design & Process). At the moment we use Excel templates, which are time-consuming to manage.
Can anyone recommend a dedicated FMEA software package we should evaluate? We'd need a maximum price around $500 (US).
Thanks in advance, Ian
I think this forum has many knowledgable members, compared to many...
We need some software to manage & document our FMEAs (Design & Process). At the moment we use Excel templates, which are time-consuming to manage.
Can anyone recommend a dedicated FMEA software package we should evaluate? We'd need a maximum price around $500 (US).
Thanks in advance, Ian





RE: Useful FMEA software package
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Useful FMEA software package
Everyone seems to have a criticism of someone else's FMEA practice.
I'd agree, go with Excel and be flexible in reorganising the format as the project progresses.
Bill
RE: Useful FMEA software package
Given a fairly normal FMEA data capture as follows:
Effects
Failure Modes
Causes
Preventive Action
Detection Action
How would you recommend structuring the one->many / many->one relationships? I've seen a few conflicting examples, e.g:
Unique failure mode data entry -> Many (repeated) effects data entries -> Many more (repeated) cause data entries
vs.
Many (repeated) failure mode data entries -> Unique effects data entry -> Many more (repeated) cause data entries
This choice seems to impact the formatting of the FMEA quite considerably...
Thanks, Ian
RE: Useful FMEA software package
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Useful FMEA software package
My first FMEA endeavour was pencil and paper, albeit the Company pro-forma, back in 1979, and I was the wrong person to be doing it - the right people (component engineers) didn't see the point - they were experts, of course.
All the subsequent screw ups had not been captured in the FMEAs. At least it was easy to update - eraser and mechanical pencil and a draftsmans script.
I've seen little progress. I've seen FMEAs done using Oracle and what a disaster that was. After an initial bout of enthusiasm, the object of FMEA was lost in the beligerance of the Oracle software and component engineers resorted to bits of paper and keeping them in their desks.
I quite like to use a sensible layout using Excel and hyperlinks to supporting documentation and evidence (test results, vendor reports, development plans, etc.)
Someone responsible for system function needs to be responsible for construction and control. This someone needs to be a properly experienced engineer, not a promoted administrator.
Bill
RE: Useful FMEA software package
Another department where I work use RCM software (reliability centered maintenance) - not sure which one, but they explained it to me as FMEA with a spot to include failure rates of components if we wanted to. Again, could be useful, although I think its a pretty expensive approach (guessing at thousands for software licences).